Role playing Guidelines

Main Entry: role-play (Roleplay)
Pronunciation: 'rOl-"plA, -'plA
Function: verbtransitive senses: ACT OUT <students were asked to role-play the thoughts and feelings of each character -- R. G. Lambert>intransitive senses: to play a role

Roleplay Guideline

A beginner guide to roleplay for our chat rooms.

1) Attitude - Why do I have to be nice?
This is something often missed, but a very important part of the guideline. It is very important to act mature and polite, because while there might be a lot of characters in the chat room, this community is still small and communication between player are fast. Before you know it, an unpleasant attitude will quickly be noted by the whole chat and generates a lot of people who will try and avoid you. While the focus of this place is not for out of character communication, but many people enjoy this aspect of the chat, and uses it actively. With the players behind the characters disliking you, it is unlikely they will want to roleplay with you.

2) Character profiles - both creation and reading are encouraged! Everyone who Registers their nickname in the chat room will be able to change their description, upload image, and set avatar. Although they aren't required, taking the time to create a public profile for your character can help you flesh them out a little, and it is a great way to get people interested in playing with you as well as show you're serious about being part of the community. The information you provide there is STRICTLY out of character, except for physical appearance and other things that can be learned from casual interaction with the character, or unless otherwise stated (such as characters who have a high profile in the news, or what have you). It gave you an idea of what to expect, so that there's not a break in roleplay while you try to explain every last detail of your apperance and ability's or action's intended results. Then again, it's not necessary to include the OOC information at all so that secrets are not spoiled, but that, too, is entirely up to the player. Beside just to understand the character, the player preferences is just as, if not, more important. People do some to this place and look for various different thing. Not many people likes everything, and some people might down right disturbed by something. We should always respect what other player's preferences is because, after all, this place is for entertainment. If someone does not get entertained at all, there are no reason for them to be here.

3) Nickname selectionIn some other places, Good nicknames might be difficult to come by, but not so here. You can obtain just about any nickname easily as long as you become a little more creative. Beside, even if you really want people to know exactly what you are, there is the description. Trying to make a name more fitting to the style of this chat room, while not mandatory, it certainly will help!

4) God-Moding and Power-Gaming - What they are and why avoid them.

God-Moding (Autohits) -- narrating others' actions or reactions, and Power-Gaming -- claiming arbitrarily and interacting as if someone else's character has no power to resist an attack or action from yours, or that theirs is just plain weaker is can become an offense if used excessively. No one likes to play with a cheater. Repeated offenders might end up upsetting a lot of people. So basically, try and let the other to do their own action, and be reasonable with your own.

Example of God-Moding (Autohits):
Bad - "Joe throw a tomato at Mary, and it splatters all over her coat."
Good - "Joe throw a tomato at Mary after he barely escaped her attack."

Example of Excessive Power-Gaming:
Bad - "I laugh off your attack because my body is hard like diamond and regenerates any type of damage immediately, then I grab for you with ten times your strength."

5) Understand OOC and IC

OOC, abbreviation of Out Of Character, and IC, abbreviation of In Character, is something everyone need to understand. There are varying level of OOC and IC, some people like to mix and match, being constantly IC as far as appearance and attitude goes, but at the same time, they might be talking about real life stuff. Which, happens a lot the OOC room. As oppose to the IC room, where everything are required to be 100% In character unless specifically noted.
Try and understand the different between OOC and IC. There are nothing wrong with being both, either, or neither. However, bringing OOC knowleage (As in something you read in their profile, such as their secret hobby) into IC and talk about it while you roleplay, tend to frustrates people. Whisper should always be OOC by default unless you know it is ok to threat it otherwise. Same with just about any other info. Unless your character have talked to that character, your character should not know their name.

6) Ease off the Enter key - Why taking turns is a good thingI know, it must be very tempting to keep entering as soon as you think up something. But generally, it is a very bad idea to not take turns, or entering a lot of smaller posts at once. Because not everyone type as fast as everyone else. Let me give you an example:

*Joe look at you and waves.*

*Joe decided to come over and say hi.*

*Joe grabs your hand and shakes it warmly.*

*Joe compliment Mary, then sits down close and start petting her.*

*Mary ...*

You should always wait until someone have responded first. If there are more then one person in the same roleplay, wait for both of them to respond. Nothing is more frustrated then having to retype something you already typed because someone give you new information all of a sudden, or not having a chance to react to all the involved characters equally.

7) Learn how to look for roleplay

Initiate the Scene: Don't just come in and say "I'm here! Who want to roleplay?". Simply scroll up and look over the chat, see what was going on and see where you want to join in.

9) Make your post pleasant to read

Probably the most important guide here. Even if you follows the top eight. You are unlikely to get far if you post with poor grammar, give no details, and worst of all, confusing. Here is a few point that will make your post great.

Separate action from talking: use /me or : at the beginning of your post to make your post into an action. Or use quotation mark around speaking

Capitalizes: Not everyone have perfect spelling and grammar, but not capitalizing is a bad habit, and is pretty much just laziness

Add detail: There are nothing wrong with one line, but saying "Me Hugs you" or "Me cry" are just lame.

General etiquette:

Be Interactive: This is fantasy roleplaying for 2 or more people. If you make the other person do all of the work, expect them (and anyone else who might have been watching) to ignore you next time. Everybody should walk away having had a fun time. When in doubt, ask. Jumping to conclusion is the source of most confusion and unnecessary conflicts.

Remain Courteous: If you have a problem with someone, let them know in a private message. Other people having a good time do not need to have their roleplaying interrupted by such matters.

Ignore Lurkers: There are two types of Lurkers; those who simply enjoy watching and those waiting for a particular person or situation before joining. Respect their choice and view them as the preverbial fly-on-the-wall. They obviously are happy where they are, so why waste a line on the screen addressing them? If you're all alone, and 1 or more others are watching as Lurkers, entertain them. You might then find one of them willing to contribute.

Try to use whisper for unrelated issues. It is annoying to be in the middle of a good scene and then have a "hey 'xxxx', got your email" message pop up -- NOBODY ELSE CARES!!!

Role Play: This may seem obvious, but is often neglected. Remember, this is a fantasy chat room for multitudes of people. Everyone has a much better time when people remain in character. Create alliances and friendships. Discuss past conquests. Have your characters talk as if they really happened. Even Lurkers enjoy seeing a follow-up to something they had witnessed a few days prior.